The State Fire Marshall says that Coffeyville Fire Department Personnel altered pay forms to allow for the input of double-time pay from the state.
City Manager Mark Hall shared the information from the Fire Marshall at Tuesday's City Commission meeting.
Hall says the city will continue the 16-year practice of two straight-time payments for on-duty responding personnel. In addition, Hall is recommending all Hazmat response requests now go through the city finance and payroll office for further oversight to prevent the possibility of receiving triple pay if equal hours are not backed out of regular hours worked. Hall says the city has paid a sum of $350 between the firefighters who resubmitted payroll based on the 16-year agreement from the most recent hazmat call in October. Hall went on to say that the issue of hazmat pay was not why former Chief Kenneth Ward was terminated.
Before these statements from Hall were made, IAFF Board Member Jimmy Bradshaw made a statement on behalf of the union, saying the union does not plan on attending any further commission meetings regarding this issue.
After Bradshaw's statement, around 20 people supporting the fire department left the room. Commissioners and those making public comments expressed regret that the issue has divided the community. KGGF reached out to the State Fire Marshall's Office and they said they will have a press release in the morning regarding this situation.
